John Couch Adams
1819-1892
English astronomer.

He mathematically deduced the existence of the planet Neptune in 1845 from the effects of its gravitational pull on the motion of Uranus, although it was not found until 1846 by J G Galle. Adams also studied the Moon's motion, the Leonid meteors, and terrestrial magnetism.

Adams was born in Landeast, Cornwall, and educated at Cambridge, where he spent virtually his entire career. He became professor of mathematics at the University of St Andrews, Fife in 1858, Lowndean professor of astronomy and geometry at Cambridge between 1859-92, and director of Cambridge observatory between 1861-92.

The calculations to account for certain aberrations in the orbit of Uranus were taken up independently by Adams and the French astronomer Urbain Leverrier. By 1845 Adams had determined the position and certain characteristics of the hypothetical planet affecting the orbit, but a search for the new planet was not instigated for nearly a year at Cambridge. Meanwhile, Leverrier sent his figures to Galle at the Berlin Observatory, and Galle, having better maps, was able to find the planet within a few hours. The discovery of Neptune was credited to Leverrier.

Roger Bacon
1214 - 1294
English philosopher and scientist.

He was interested in alchemy, the biological and physical sciences and magic. Many discoveries have been credited to him, including the magnifying lens. He foresaw the extensive use of gunpowder and mechanical cars, boats, and planes.

In 1266, at the invitation of his friend Pope Clement IV, he began his Opus majus / Great Work, a compendium of all branches of knowledge. In 1268 he sent this with his Opus minus / Lesser Work and other writings to the pope. In 1277 Bacon was condemned and imprisoned by the Christian church for `certain novelties´ (heresy) and not released until 1292.

Bacon wrote in Latin and his works include On Mirrors, Metaphysical and On the Multiplication of Species. He followed the maxim ` Cease to be ruled by dogmas and authorities; look at the world!´

Bacon was born in Somerset and educated at Oxford and Paris. He became a Franciscan monk and lectured in Paris about 1241-47, then at Oxford University. He described a hypothetical diving apparatus and some of the properties of gunpowder. He promoted the use of latitude and longitude in mapmaking, and suggested the changes necessary to improve the Western calendar that were carried out by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582.

Sir George Cayley
1773 - 1857
British scientist.

He is recognized as the founder of aerodynamics on the basis of his pioneering experiments and studies of the principles of flight. He experimented with wing design, distinguished between lift and drag, formulated the concepts of vertical tail surfaces, steering rudders, rear elevators, and air screws, and built the world's first glider capable of carrying a human (1853). Cayley was also a founder of the Regent Street Polytechnic, London. It is generally accepted that the airplane was invented by Sir George Cayley in 1799 at Brompton, near Scarborough in Yorkshire in the United Kingdom. In 1909 Wilbur Wright himself paid Cayley the following tribute:

"About 100 years ago, an Englishman … carried the science of flight to a point which it had never reached before and which it scarcely reached again during the last century."

Charles Darwin
1809 - 1882
English Naturalist
Darwin is known as the discoverer of natural selection.

Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England. He studied medicine at Edinburgh, then biology at Cambridge. In 1831 he became the naturalist on HMS Beagle, which was to make a scientific survey of South American waters, and returned in 1836. By 1846 he had published several works on his geological and zoological discoveries, but he devoted most of his time to his major work 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection' (1859). He postulated that natural selection was the agent for the transmutation of organism during evolution.

He then worked on a series of supplemental treatises, including 'The Descent of Man' (1871), which postulated the descent of the human race from the anthropoid group. At first Darwin was attacked as an infidel atheist declaring the Bible a lie, but he replied that it increased God's grandeur to believe that the universe had been created with evolution built in.

Sir George Everest
1790 - 1866
Welsh surveyor.

Born in Breconshire, Wales. He worked on the trigonometrical survey of India from 1806 to 1843. He became superintendent of the survey in 1823 and surveyor general of India in 1830. Mount Everest is named for him. He was knighted in 1861.

Michael Faraday
1791-1867

British physicist and chemist, best known for his discoveries of electromagnetic induction and of the laws of electrolysis.
Faraday was born on September 22, 1791, in Newington, Surrey, England. He was the son of a blacksmith and received little formal education. While apprenticed to a bookbinder in London, he read books on scientific subjects and experimented with electricity. In 1812 he attended a series of lectures given by the British chemist Sir Humphry Davy and forwarded the notes he took at these lectures to Davy, together with a request for employment. Davy employed Faraday as an assistant in his chemical laboratory at the Royal Institution and in 1813 took Faraday with him on an extended tour of Europe. Faraday was elected to the Royal Society in 1824 and the following year was appointed director of the laboratory of the Royal Institution. In 1833 he succeeded Davy as professor of chemistry at the institution. Two years later he was given a pension of 300 pounds per year for life. Faraday was the recipient of many scientific honors, including the Royal and Rumford medals of the Royal Society; he was also offered the presidency of the society but declined the honor. He died on August 25, 1867, near Hampton Court, Surrey.
Faraday's earliest researches were in the field of chemistry, following the lead of Davy. A study of chlorine, which Faraday included in his researches, led to the discovery of two new chlorides of carbon. He also discovered benzene. Faraday investigated a number of new varieties of optical glass. In a series of experiments he was successful in liquefying a number of common gases.
The research that established Faraday as the foremost experimental scientist of his day was, however, in the fields of electricity and magnetism. In 1821 he plotted the magnetic field around a conductor carrying an electric current. In 1831 Faraday followed this accomplishment with the discovery of electromagnetic induction and in the same year demonstrated the induction of one electric current by another. During this same period of research he investigated the phenomena of electrolysis and discovered two fundamental laws: that the amount of chemical action produced by an electrical current in an electrolyte is proportional to the amount of electricity passing through the electrolyte; and that the amount of a substance deposited from an electrolyte by the action of a current is proportional to the chemical equivalent weight of the substance.In experimenting with magnetism, Faraday made two discoveries of great importance; one was the existence of diamagnetism, and the other was the fact that a magnetic field has the power to rotate the plane of polarized light passing through certain types of glass.
In addition to a number of papers for learned journals, Faraday wrote Chemical Manipulation (1827), Experimental Researches in Electricity (1844-55), and Experimental Researches in Chemistry and Physics (1859).

 Sir Alexander Fleming
1881-1955

British bacteriologist and Nobel laureate, best known for his discovery of penicillin. Born near Darvel, Scotland, and educated at Saint Mary's Hospital Medical School of the University of London, he served as professor of bacteriology at St. Mary's Hospital Medical School from 1928 to 1948, when he became professor emeritus.
Fleming conducted outstanding research in bacteriology, chemotherapy, and immunology. In 1922 he discovered lysozyme, an antiseptic found in tears, body secretions, albumen, and certain fish plants. His discovery of penicillin came about accidentally in 1928 in the course of research on influenza. His observation that the mold contaminating one of his culture plates had destroyed the bacteria laid the basis for the development of penicillin therapy (see Antibiotic).
Fleming was knighted in 1944. In 1945 he shared the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine with the British scientists Howard Walter Florey and Ernst Boris Chain for their contributions to the development of penicillin.

Stephen (William) Hawking
1942 -
English physicist

Hawking was born in Oxford, studied at Oxford and Cambridge, and became professor of mathematics at Cambridge in 1979. He is confined to a wheelchair because of a rare and progressive neuromotor disease. His work in general relativity - particularly gravitational field theory - led to a search for a quantum theory of gravity to explain black holes and the Big Bang, singularities that classical relativity theory does not adequately explain. His book A Brief History of Time 1988 gives a popular account of cosmology and became an international bestseller. Hawking's objective of producing an overall synthesis of quantum mechanics and relativity theory began around the time of the publication in 1973 of his seminal book The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time, written with G F R Ellis. His most remarkable result, published in 1974, was that black holes could in fact emit particles in the form of thermal radiation - the so-called Hawking radiation.

Sir Isaac Newton
1642 - 1727
English Scientist
Isaac Newton is one of the greatest names in the history of human thought.

Newton was born in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, UK. He studied at Cambridge. Legend has it that the fall of an apple initiated the train of thought that led to the law of gravitation. As professor of mathematics at Cambridge he worked on his famous Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica, which supplied a complete proof of the law of gravitation. This law explained celestial motions, the tides, and terrestial gravitation, and is regarded as one of the greatest scientific achievements.

He deveolped a new kind of mathematics known as the calculus. He also invented the reflecting telescope, and discovered that white light is a combination of all colors by using prisms. Newton sat in parliament on two occasions, was elected President of the Royal Society in 1703, and was knighted in 1705.